This invention relates to a system for controlling the behavior of an animal.
Animal control systems are useful to control an animal""s behavior. Examples include a) containment or exclusion systems to contain an animal within a region such as a yard or to exclude an animal from a region such as a room, food table, sofa, bed or chair, b) training systems to modify the animal""s behavior, and c) bark inhibitor systems for dogs. The systems are usually attached to a collar for the animal. A behavior modification signal or correction stimulus is typically an audio sound. A stronger correction stimulus may be an electric shock. While such control systems have been miniaturized as technology has improved, they are still too large and too heavy for a small animal such as a lap dog or small cat. There remains a need for control system circuits that minimize the number of parts and that perform functions in a different mode to permit a reduction in weight and volume.
Animal control has long been accomplished by application of electrical shock. The means for generation of the electrical shock fall into 4 modes.
1 induction coil,
2 alternating current, typically with a step-up transformer,
3 direct current, typically rectified from a step-up transformer and filtered,
4 pulse, typically by capacitor discharge into a pulse transformer
All of these approaches are difficult to miniaturize and to effect with limited battery power while maintaining an effective stimulus. The induction coil mode stores energy in the coil""s magnetic field, and the energy is delivered by the collapsing inductive field. As the coil is made smaller, less energy can be stored and the shock becomes insufficient to control the animal.
The alternating current mode is limited to low frequencies because the physiological response diminishes with increasing frequency. For a given frequency, as the step-up transformer is made smaller, it is not possible to maintain the necessary primary inductance to keep the transformer core from saturating, which leads to excessive current consumption and diminished output.
The direct current mode stores the energy on a high voltage filter capacitor. Typically the high voltage to be stored on the capacitor is generated by circuitry similar to the alternating current mode just described, except the high voltage is rectified either by half wave, full wave, or voltage multiplier rectification. D.C.-to-D.C. step-up circuits are known for photomultiplier and photoflash circuits. In modem photoflash applications a high frequency is used with a small transformer. A rectifier is used to supply charge to a storage capacitor. If the circuit were to be used in an animal control system, the high voltage storage capacitor would be large and is difficult to miniaturize. The charge may also remain on the capacitor and shock the animal at an inappropriate or unexpected time. Typically a high current is taken from an AA size cell, which is comparatively large and heavy for an animal control system. Further such circuits are not designed for microprocessor control.
The pulse mode uses a pulse transformer with excellent high frequency capability; however, the primary to secondary turns or voltage ratio is limited to low ratios in order to maintain a high self-resonant frequency. As consequence, to achieve high voltages, a high voltage must be supplied to the primary. The high voltage may be supplied by circuitry similar to the direct current mode just described and with the inadequacies just described.
Thus there remains a need for a shock system that can be controlled by a microprocessor, is small and is operable by the limited voltage and current capabilities of a small battery.
Battery powered apparatus that combines low power microprocessors with high power circuits, such as electronic shockers, require power management because the microprocessor may malfunction if the power supply fluctuates excessively. It is well known that the maximum power is obtained from a source when the load is matched. This applies to batteries as well. In a simple matched system the load resistance would be equal to the source resistance, i.e. the internal battery resistance (more correctly when the source and load are conjugate impedances, but considering only the resistance is sufficient in this application). In such a system the terminal voltage of the battery drops to half the open circuit value. Thus a 3-volt battery will drop to 1.5 volts under a matched load. Microprocessors usually fail when the supply voltage drops by half Also the internal resistance of a battery increases near the end of battery life. Thus, even a load resistance that is higher than the normal battery internal resistance will become significant as the battery nears end of life. To keep the microprocessor from malfunctioning, it is well known to isolate the microprocessor and other circuits from temporary drops in supply voltage by using a diode feeding a capacitor, the latter maintains the voltage supplied to the microprocessor. The typical voltage drop across a silicon diode is 0.7 volts. Even Schottky diodes have 0.3 volts drop or more. This is too much of a voltage drop in a low voltage battery system. For example a fresh 3-volt lithium battery may supply only 2.3-2.7 volts through a diode isolation circuit. This may be insufficient voltage to reliably operate the microprocessor. Batteries also drop in voltage near the end of battery life, and it is desirable to get maximal life from batteries by maintaining operation even at low battery voltages. Voltage losses in load isolation systems thus reduce the amount of useful battery life. While low drop out voltage regulators are available, they do not tolerate an input voltage lower than the load voltage or consume too much power, compromising battery life. The usual protection scheme for the regulator is to use a reverse coupled diode. The strategy is to drag the load voltage down as the supply voltage drops. This protects the regulator but fails to provide the needed isolation.
Thus there remains a need for a power management system that provides isolation from transient supply voltage drops, has a minimal voltage drop and is efficient so as to maintain long battery life.
Animal control systems that are containment or exclusion systems use an electro-magnetic radiated signal from a boundary wire and have a receiving antenna in the form of an unshielded inductor. Such inductors have a solenoidal reception field. Animals can learn to avoid the boundary signal by orienting themselves and, hence, the receiver to the blind spot of the solenoidal field. Simply adding another inductor physically oriented different to the first and paralleling the electrical circuits results in a new reception field that is the vector sum of the two inductors, i.e. another solenoidal field. One solution is to use two or three orthogonal inductors that are activated or switched on singly or in pairs by a controller or microprocessor, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,330 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,271 to Touchton et al. The inductor or inductor pair having the strongest signal is then selected for further signal processing. This selection process takes time. This lost time diminishes the deterrent effect for those animals that attempt to run through the boundary. Another solution is to sequentially sample or switch on each antenna for a period of time, as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,460,124, 5,682,839, and 6,269,776 to Grimsley et al. The switching reduces the time the signal can be received, assuming not all three antennas are receiving sufficiently strong signal. This reduces the ability to authenticate a weak signal because some of the antennas, i.e. part of the time, offer insufficient signal to process. The switching also introduces a 0.1 second latency in detecting the boundary signal as it switches through antennas that are not receiving the boundary signal.
Thus there remains a need for an antenna system that is omnidirectional and does not incur the lost time required for selection of the strongest signal or is reduced in ability to authenticate a weak signal or has a detection latency.
The animal control method and system of this invention, overcomes many of the deficiencies of the conventional animal control systems of the prior art. A particular object of this invention is achieved by innovative circuitry, which reduces the weight and volume of the control system and uses a small amount of power so that it may be applied to smaller animals such as lap dogs and cats.
This invention provides an animal control system comprising a system to receive a control signal such an electromagnetic boundary signal, a audio bark signal, an ultrasonic perimeter signal, a magnetic boundary signal, or a radio signal and to generate a correction stimulus comprising a shock system. The shock system is typically coupled to a microprocessor that controls the shock system. Other controllers may be used. A simple and efficient shock system comprises a correction signal generator coupled to a step-up transformer, the output of which is coupled to a rectifier. The output of the rectifier is coupled to electrodes that contact the animal to provide the correction stimulus. The correction signal generator is typically under a controller or microprocessor control.
It was found that alternating current frequencies above about 5 kilohertz were in-sensible and hence ineffective, at least on a human. It is believed that other animals have similar frequency limits. Thus, in order to use a high frequency to permit a small transformer, it is necessary to rectify the high voltage output. But this conventionally requires a high voltage filter capacitor, which is physically large. Surprisingly, it was found that the rectified high frequency voltage without a filter capacitor, i.e. an unfiltered unipolar high voltage, was as effective a correction stimulus as a capacitor filtered voltage. Elimination of a high voltage filter capacitor reduces the weight and physical volume of the shock system. Rectifying means to change a bipolar voltage, a voltage having both positive and negative excursions, into a unipolar voltage, a voltage having only positive or only negative excursions.
It is well known that smaller transformers may be used, for the same power transferred, by raising the frequency of operation. Furthermore, a large step-up ratio is required in order to raise a low battery voltage, such as 3 volts, to a voltage suitable for a correction stimulus, such as 330 volts. This requires a transformer turns ratio of 1 to 110. For example if the primary winding requires 12 turns to achieve a sufficient inductance to keep the transformer from saturating at the operating frequency, the secondary winding must be 1320 turns. Such a large number of turns will exhibit a large inductance, proportionate to the square of the number of turns. The otherwise small interwinding capacitance resonates with the large inductance to give a relatively low self-resonant frequency. Attempts to operate the transformer above the self-resonant frequency results in high losses because the secondary of the transformer acts as a low-pass filter. However, operation at the resonant frequency provides good low loss performance. For a small xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d core ferrite transformer, less than a centimeter on a side, with 1320 turns for the secondary, the resonant frequency measured 19 kilohertz. For a small xe2x80x9cpotxe2x80x9d core ferrite transformer, approximately 7 millimeters in diameter, with 440 turns for the secondary, the resonant frequency measured 80 kilohertz. For the purposes of this invention, a high frequency is any frequency greater than that where the physiological effect of the alternating current begins to decline, i.e. above about 5 kilohertz.
In order to effectively use the limited battery power available, it is useful to maximize the physiological effect. This can be accomplished by allowing the animal""s nerve endings to repolarize. Once the nerve has depolarized in response to the correction stimulus, further application of the stimulus is a waste of power. Thus it is more effective to apply an on-off control stimulus. For example, to repetitively apply a voltage of sufficient intensity and duration to substantially depolarize the nerves, then to turn the voltage off and allow the nerves to repolarize and then to reapply the voltage, etc. It is desired to apply the voltage 5 to 200 times per second. Fewer than 5 fails to impress an urgency of response while greater than 200 looses the insistence of sensibly discrete actions. Thirty repetitions per seconds are preferred. In other words, the controlled on time of the stimulus signal is one sixtieth of a second and the off time of the stimulus signal is one sixtieth of a second, where upon the stimulus signal is again reapplied for a sixtieth of a second and so forth.
A less strong or graded correction stimulus can be achieved by reducing the duration and/or intensity of the voltage so as to not extensively depolarize the nerves. For example the on time of the stimulus signal may be reduced. To keep the perceived stimulus signal constant the off time of the stimulus signal may be increased by the amount of time the on time is reduced, so as to keep the sum of the on time and off time constant.
Furthermore, a more effective correction stimulus may be created by continuing the correction stimulus voltage for periods of time, including the on time and off time control of the correction stimulus, then discontinuing the correction stimulus voltage for periods of time. The animal receives the aversive correction stimulus and is allowed to react to it without being so affected as to be unable to respond to the correction stimulus. The stimulus may be continued or applied for 0.5 to 20 seconds then discontinued or stopped for 0.5 to 20 seconds. The correction stimulus may then be continued to further control the animal. Of course, the control signal should still present to continue the correction stimulus.
Also it may be desirable to stop the control signal all together after a time because the animal may be trapped or unable to react to the control stimulus. For example, after 20 to 120 seconds, the correction stimulus may be stopped for an extended time, 4 minutes or more, or until the control signal is not detected, which resets the sequence of the correction stimulus.
A method of utilizing a small, efficient, and effective shock system for animal control comprises a) mounting on the animal a controller to receive a control signal, b) generating a correction signal, c) coupling the correction signal to a step-up transformer to produce a stepped-up correction signal, c) rectifying the stepped-up correction signal, and d) applying the rectified stepped-up correction signal to the animal as a correction stimulus to control the animal. Mounting means to put into proper position for use.
This invention provides a power isolation system for the low battery voltages commonly used, such as 3 volts, to maintain operational voltage for the microprocessor and other signal processing circuits by utilizing a pass transistor. A FET would be ideal in terms of low voltage drop but it is symmetric so that it will conduct from the higher to the lower voltage whether it is the power source or the load. Additional circuitry and power consumption would be required to overcome this deficiency. A bipolar transistor has a small voltage drop when saturated, about 50 to 300 millivolts. The bipolar transistor is symmetric in that the emitter and collector can be interchanged. However, most bipolar transistors are optimized for other performance characteristics and are not symmetrical in performance. It was found that high forward gain transistors (forward current gain greater than 50) tend to have a low reverse gain, (reverse current gain less than 1), i.e. when the collector and emitter are interchanged. Thus a bipolar transistor with a large forward gain and a small reverse gain can be used to supply a relatively large current from the power source to the load but will supply only a small reverse current from the load to the xe2x80x9csourcexe2x80x9d when the source is a lower voltage than the load voltage. With the collector connected to the load, the transistor base current is supplied by a resistor to ground of a preferred value just sufficient in resistance to saturate the transistor in normal operation so that the voltage drop is minimized. Other sources of base current may be used. The base current may be fixed such that additional circuitry is not required, for example to turn the base current on and off, to achieve the power isolation. In this configuration, when the xe2x80x9csourcexe2x80x9d voltage drops below the load voltage the transistor is substantially non-conducting and only a small reverse or xe2x80x9cleakagexe2x80x9d current will flow from the load. Thus good isolation is provided with a minimal voltage drop and with a simple compact circuit.
An animal containment or exclusion system is a particular kind of animal control system that uses a boundary signal to restrict the animal to approved regions. A boundary signal is created by applying an xe2x80x9cRFxe2x80x9d signal (xe2x80x9cradio frequencyxe2x80x9d although the frequency may be as low as 7 kilohertz) to a perimeter wire to radiate an electromagnetic signal that a receiver mounted on the animal can receive to activate a correction stimulus. The boundary signal is received by an inductor and it is necessary to use two or more inductors to overcome the blind spots in the characteristic solenoidal receiving field of a single inductor. Connecting the inductors together will result in an equivalent solenoidal receiving field that is equivalent to a single inductor. Thus the blind spots will not have been removed.
It is desired to combine the signals from a plurality of inductors, each physically oriented in a different direction without getting an equivalent solenodial field. To do this, the axes of the inductors are physically oriented in different directions, substantially orthogonally, and the individual received signals modified so that combining or adding the signals does not result in an equivalent solenoidal receiving field or a field with nulls.
This invention shifts the electrical phase differently of the received signals before combining them, particularly signals at the carrier frequency. The combined signals do not become an equivalent solenoidal field because signals of different electrical phase cannot cancel each other to give a blind spot.
In a preferred embodiment two inductors receive the boundary signal, the received signals are shifted 90 electrical degrees relative to each other so that they can be considered as a sine and cosine wave. It is well known mathematically that the sine and cosine are orthogonal (not in the physically orthogonal sense above) and cannot cancel each other. However, any electrical phase shift greater than about 45 electrical degrees will substantially eliminate the signal cancellation that results in nulls or an equivalent solenoidal field of response, provided that the inductors are oriented differently. Shifting the relative electrical phase 135 degrees gives performance similar to that of 45 degrees but as if one of the inductors were physically inverted.
In a preferred embodiment two inductors receive the boundary signal, the received signals from each inductor are amplified and the amplifier is constructed to shift the electrical phase of the signal. The two amplifiers are constructed to shift the phase differently. It is preferred that the phase is different by at least 45 electrical degrees and 90 degrees is more preferred.
It is common to use the inductor as part of a tuned circuit that is resonated by a capacitor to a frequency matched to the boundary signal frequency, also called the carrier frequency. This is advantageous because interfering signals can be rejected. A high xe2x80x9cQxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cquality factorxe2x80x9d affecting the width of the frequency response) inductor-capacitor circuit may be used to further reject interfering signals. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, at least one of tuned circuits is tuned slightly away from the boundary signal frequency so that the electrical phase of the received signal is shifted.
In a preferred embodiment two inductors are substantially physically orthogonal and the electrical phase of the received boundary signals outputted by the inductors are shifted by tuning a first inductor and a first capacitor and second inductor and second capacitor to frequencies above and below the carrier frequency, respectively, so that the electrical phase difference between them is greater than 45 degrees, preferably 90 degrees. Tuned above means the resonant or most sensitive frequency of the inductor and capacitor is greater than the carrier frequency, and analogously for tuned below. The Q may be modified by shunting the inductors with resistors.
With only two inductors and with phase-shifted signals, a null in the received signal still remains in one plane. Use of three inductors oriented in three different directions will eliminate the null altogether. In a preferred embodiment three inductors are substantially physically orthogonal and receive the boundary signal the received signals are shifted 60 electrical degrees relative to each other. However, any electrical phase shift greater than about 30 electrical degrees but less than about 90 degrees will substantially eliminate the signal cancellation that results in blind spots in the field of response.
In a preferred embodiment three inductors are substantially physically orthogonal and receive the boundary signal, the received signals from each inductor are amplified and the amplifier is constructed to shift the electrical phase of the signal. The three amplifiers are constructed to shift the phase differently. It is preferred that the phases are different from each other by 60 electrical degrees. The inductors may also be resonated with capacitors and the Q adjusted with resistors.
In a preferred embodiment the electrical phase of the received boundary signals are shifted by tuning a first inductor and a first capacitor and a third inductor and a third capacitor to frequencies above and below the carrier frequency, respectively, so that the electrical phase difference is 60 degrees and tuning a second inductor and second capacitor to the carrier frequency. The sensitivity of second inductor and second capacitor may be matched to that of the others at the carrier frequency.
A method of animal control utilizing an antenna system for animal containment which does not need switching, does not give up authentification of weak signal, has no latency, and has fewer or no nulls in the response field comprises the steps: a) mounting on an animal a receiver to receive a boundary signal, b) receiving the boundary signal with a plurality of receiver subsystems, each having substantially orthogonal physical axes, c) shifting the electrical phase of the received boundary signals, forming shifted received boundary signals, d) combining the shifted received boundary signals, e) detecting the combined shifted received boundary signals and f) generating a correction stimulus to control the animal.
The phase shifting also may be accomplished by tuning the inductor and capacitor and phase shifting by the amplifier.